Krikor Kouchian — survivor of those hot and heady days of the “French touch” (R.I.P.) — has turned his discerning Euro eye to that most debauch and degraded of environments: the U.S.A., of course. Pitched as a “dreamy portrait of Americana,” Krikor’s new Pacific Alley LP is the sort of picture of America maybe only a Frenchman could have: nothing but sleazoid synths, midnite movie treble snares, and cruisin’ boogie bass from sea to shining sea. It’s equal parts delicious and kinda nasty, both the hamburger itself and the George Foreman Grill grease trap it came with. We dig it.
Today we have the distinct pleasure of premiering the video for album opener “Onda Vaselina,” described quite accurately by Krikor himself to us in an email:
The opening track from the album could be describe as some corny phone break up after a cruise on a paddleboat in long beach went bad.
It’s where it all started to go wrong in pacific alley and the sad jazzy dx100 chords really help on this…
This pairs beautifully with video work by frequent collaborator Nathalie Gasdoué (see the pair’s previous team-up on the awesome “Niños Matadores” clip), who exorcises the deepest of feelings from reams of telenovela footage. In her own words:
The track revolving around a break up phone call in Spanish, I was immediately compelled to use footage of telenovelas. First thing that came to mind…a dramatic event disturbs the quiet course of life.
Directors of telenovelas use lots of close- up to emphasize the emotions the characters go through. The theatrical and over-the-top acting is hypnotizing.
I edited hours of telenovelas series down to some kind of emotional chain reaction…
I made their story shorter than the usual, nevertheless there will still be no escape from their pain…
Watch “Onda Vaselina” right here. Pacific Alley drops October 2 from the good folks at L.I.E.S.
Track list
A1 / 1. Onda Vaselina
A2 / 2. Reyes Del Barrio
A3 / 3. Zulette
A4 / 4. Plomo O Plomo
A5 / 5. Raw Deal
B1 / 6. White Snow
B2 / 7. Hermanos Cerdo
B3 / 8. Armas y Heroinas
B4 / 9. Niños Matadores
B5 / 10. WYSIWYG
B6 / 11. Distrito Federal
More about: Krikor
